“This is why I crossed the floor to disallow the passage of the Murray Darling Basin Plan in 2012.

“In doing so, I secured from the then-Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, a commitment to cap Commonwealth water buybacks at 1500 gigalitres in Government.”

“This is a commitment which we have delivered today,” Mr McCormack said.

Mr McCormack said he will continue to work with the community to ensure the triple-bottom-line aims of the Plan are delivered.

“Water is the lifeblood of Riverina communities. It is vital to ensure irrigation communities’ economies and social fabric is considered equally alongside the environment,” Mr McCormack said.

“No-one understands more than a Basin irrigator the need to use resources as efficiently as possible.

“The Government has recently invested more than a quarter of a million dollars into on-farm water efficiencies in the Riverina to ensure farmers are able to do what they do best and maintain vibrant local economies and communities.

“The Nationals in Government will always back farmers and I will always stick up for our food and fibre producers and be their voice in the nation’s Parliament.”